Jamie Paterson has been left without a manager and investment has fallen through just a week after signing for his new team.
Jamie Paterson has walked into mayhem at Plymouth Argyle after leaving Coventry City.
The 33-year-old forward, who spent the second half of the season helping his hometown club reach the Championship play-offs on a short-term contract, was eager to move on to the next chapter of his career, speaking only last week about his excitement to work with “really likeable character” Miron Muslic as manager.
Muslic has now packed up and left, agreeing to become the new manager of Schalke in Germany. A plainly upset Argyle chairman Simon Hallett has also disclosed, in a 1,800-word address to supporters, that planned additional investment had fallen through.
David Fox, the newly appointed head of football operations, will have to seek for a new leader right away. Fox will be assisted by former Norwich City sporting director Stuart Webber, who has been brought in as an adviser.
Following relegation to League One, Hallett wrote: “We are saddened with Miron Muslic’s departure – not because he is joining a team with a profile like Schalke, but because of the timing and manner in which he leaves.
“We hired Miron in January and offered him a three-and-a-half-year contract. Shortly after his arrival, we hired the team he desired, including an assistant head coach, head of elite performance, performance analysis, and, eventually, a set-piece coach. A recruitment team was in place for the season, and we added Stuart Webber, a very experienced and well-regarded sporting director, to help with the post-season rebuild of our squad, as well as Tom Randle, who has since joined us full-time as head of recruitment.
“After the season ended, and rumours circulated that Miron was attracting interest from other clubs, I called him personally, and he assured me that he was completely committed to Argyle.” As a result, Miron continued to attend all recruitment meetings and was active in player interviews and recruitment until just last week. His coworkers had no indication that he intended to quit.
“Last Saturday, Miron notified the club that he wanted to speak with Schalke about joining them. According to his contract, any club that want to communicate with him must first obtain permission from Argyle. We refused to grant such authority, but Miron stated unequivocally that he would never return to Plymouth. Thus, we grudgingly granted the necessary authority.
“Miron made it apparent that he would never return, so we had no choice but to go on. We could have demanded full compensation and gone to court to enforce his contract, but we would not have had his services as head coach, and efforts toward finding a replacement would have been stymied.
“Rather than get mired in a protracted, and highly disruptive, process we settled for an amount of compensation that, while below the contracted sum, is a strong financial outcome for a League One head coach, enabling us to move on positively.”
Plymouth moved from League Two to the Championship between 2020 and 2023, however they struggled in the second tier for two seasons. Hallett believes the club can be sustainable at that level, but he recognizes the need for further financial support to think bigger.
He wrote: “As you know, we’ve been in talks with a potential new investor in our club for almost a year. Those discussions resulted in an application for approval of the investment being filed with the EFL in February. Unfortunately, discussions have taken too long, and vital information that both we and the EFL needed to close the agreement has not been provided. I no longer feel the announcement of the new investment is imminent.”
He added: “I completely understand that this will be very frustrating for fans, as it is for me and the rest of the Argyle board. I have always said that my resources can enable us to be a sustainable Championship club, but that if we want to aspire beyond that, we would need new investment. I can provide some of that new investment, with the help of the Holliday family and Argyle Green, but not all.
“While progress toward a deal in its current shape appears to have stagnated, we will continue to look into alternate paths, including being open to improved conditions with other investment groups. It is critical that we find the proper investor, not the quickest, which may take some time. We are committed to this, but in the meantime, present shareholders may (and will) assist the club through its next stage of development.”
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